Drug prescribing in rural health facilities in China: implications for service quality and cost.
Overuse of drugs in rural areas of China has led to a growing concern regarding service quality and cost. The study found evidence of high levels of drug use in some rural health facilities in comparison with a number of other developing countries. Such a result was significantly associated with the government policy of financing health care, regulation and monitoring of health services, and users' attitudes and behaviour. It underlines the need for measures to be taken in China to improve drug use in order to allow its population access to effective care at reasonable cost.
Zhan
S K
SK
Department of Health Statistics and Social Medicine, School of Public Health of Shanghai Medical University, P R China.
Tang
S L
SL
Guo
Y D
YD
Bloom
G
G
D002681:China; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004363:Drug Utilization; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data